


It Always Ends the Same

by NoOneKnowsIWriteThis



Category: Silent Hill (Video Game Series)
Genre: Canonical Alternate Universe, Canonical Character Death, Dark, Descent into Madness, F/M, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, UFOs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23455252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoOneKnowsIWriteThis/pseuds/NoOneKnowsIWriteThis
Summary: Based on the UFO quest and ending for Shattered Memories. You don't need to have played the game to read this, that's mainly a jumping off point for a separate story.-"James began to notice Mary watching him when she thought he wasn’t looking. She dismissed his suggestion that they stop going to Silent Hill and instead look for doctors in a different town. James could feel their relationship turning sour."
Relationships: Mary Shepherd-Sunderland/James Sunderland
Kudos: 6





	It Always Ends the Same

If you were to ask James, he would state definitively that he wasn’t crazy. Sure, he went to counseling, but that was couples therapy. He and Mary were just having a rough patch because of her illness. James felt terrible about adding yet another series of doctor’s appointments to her already busy schedule, but Mary had insisted on it. She’d said something about wanting to ensure they’d make it through this if she survived. James couldn’t say no to her after that.

It was after one of their couples counseling appointments in Silent Hill that James first spotted a UFO flying over the lake. Mary didn’t believe him, of course, he hardly believed it himself. He would have dismissed it entirely as a misidentified cloud if he hadn’t seen the second one.

He’d decided to go for a walk rather than stay cooped up in the waiting room while Mary was at one of her appointments. He had plenty of time to kill and was carrying his cellphone if Mary needed to contact him. This time he not only spotted the UFO flying low above the trees, he managed to snap a picture of it.

Mary had laughed when he’d shown it to her. She thanked him for trying to cheer her up with the silly picture. James didn’t push the issue.

Once he had proof of what he’d seen, he began to spot the alien crafts more and more throughout Silent Hill. Mary still didn’t believe him, but now she didn’t laugh it off. If anything, she seemed concerned. James began to notice Mary watching him when she thought he wasn’t looking. She dismissed his suggestion that they stop going to Silent Hill and instead look for doctors in a different town. James could feel their relationship turning sour.

Then he realized something that explained all of it: Mary’s growing coldness towards him as he learned more about the alien threat, her stubborn insistence on continuing to visit Silent Hill, her watching him, even potentially her illness. Mary was an alien.

Once the idea stuck in his head he couldn’t shake it loose. So he watched her, and watched her watching him until he decided on a course of action. He would trap her so that she couldn’t warn the others that he knew about them.

It was easy enough for him to trap her in the cellar. He just had to create a reason for her to go down there and then lock the door behind her.

At first she played innocent, calling for him and asking him to open the door. Then she grew more desperate, begging and pleading for him to let her out, shrieking at him in a rage, apologizing for whatever she’d done wrong, banging against the door. Those mostly fell away as she came to accept that she was trapped and that James had trapped her deliberately. She would occasionally try to get him to talk to her and let her out, but mostly she just cried.

Eventually she asked for food and water.

James didn’t answer her. Aliens didn’t need to eat, so this was clearly just a ploy to get him to open the door.

Finally she was silent. It had taken days of waiting to reach this point.

Now he tried talking to her, coaxing her with false sweetness, goading her with taunts, lashing out at her with accusations. There was no response. She was playing dead, she had to be. This was all a trick to get him to let her out.

That  _ thing _ , that  _ monster _ was still trying to get loose. That was the only possible explanation. Otherwise he had merely lost his mind and killed his beloved wife, which James could not believe himself to be capable of doing.

His phone went off. Another text message from someone else who had seen the alien crafts. In fact, this person had been photographing them and sending the proof to James. The text contained no words, just another image of a UFO around Silent Hill.

James sat a chair in front of the tv, not watching whatever channel he’d tuned it to. The unnatural quiet of the house was beginning to get to him. He’d been here too long without the sweet illusion of Mary, with only the thing locked in his basement.

He glanced once more at his phone and the photo he’d been sent. This other person was the first he’d found who understood the threat they were facing.

James typed out his response and sent it.

_ You’ve proven yourself. Meet me at the Lighthouse Clinic. _

**Author's Note:**

> I was intrigued by the possibilities of James and Mary in the Shattered Memories AU based on the cameos in the UFO ending, then I found out what actually happened. Poor Mary can't catch a break.


End file.
